Natty Light has created the ‘most expensive piece of art in the world’ at Grand Central Station

At Grand Central Terminal, the brand Natural Light beer has just ‘published the most expensive piece of art in the world;’ chaotic canopy constructed from diplomas of 2,600 college graduates.

Adding to the cost of each diploma – $ 180,000 on average – the total value of “Da Vinci of Debt” exceeds $ 470 million.

That’s $ 20 million more than the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction: Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi”.

The new venture from Natural Light (or Natty Light as it is known to the brand’s disciples) will take up a 6,000-foot space in the Vanderbilt Hall Grand Central Terminal. The 2,600 diplomas are suspended in mid-air, “as if a gale of wind had just blown them away,” according to the logo. “The design should reflect both the magnitude of the appalling debt crisis and also address the chaotic impact that college debt has on those in need.”

It’s part of an ongoing effort by the brand to shed light on the country’s student debt problem – U.S. college debt hit its highest level in 2021, making up $ 1.7 trillion in student loan debt.

In 2018, Natty Light embarked on a ten-year, $ 10 million plan to help students and graduates with college debt. As part of the 2020 portion of the brand’s College Debt Relief Program, Natty Light paid graduates a piece of $ 100 to rent out their diplomas.

“As soon as the installation is complete, all diplomas will be returned to the position in which they were received,” notes Daniel Blake, vice president of value badges at Anheuser-Busch .

The show is set to start tomorrow. For those who can’t travel, Natty Light partnered with Snap to see the piece through Augmented Reality on Snapchat.

“As we entered year four of our $ 10 million ten-year commitment, we wanted to lead even more discussion about the dire costs of higher education and the ongoing issue of college debt,” he notes. Blake. “When we looked at other media with rusty price tags, the real arts world jumped out. We wanted to use the concept of high-end valuations of the arts industry to help reflect just how skyrocketing the cost of college has become. ”

“Da Vinci of Debt’ compares the high-end price of works like the famous banana with Maurizio Cattelan tape (in) (sold for $ 120,000) to Tracey Emin’s canonical work “My Bed” (on sold for £ 2,546,500 in 2014), where the artist showed up and later sold her real bed, disbanded after a depression program.

“Natural Light chose art as a means to increase the College’s Debt Relief Program in 2021 as the costs of the arts are just the same for the staggering cost of attending a typical four-year college,” says Blake .

The campaign aims to specifically target Natty Light’s drinking demographic: college kids and recent budget-conscious degrees. Student loans hit stress level. There are currently more than 45 million borrowers who owe more than $ 1.7 trillion in student loan debt.

The final year of campaigns for the Anheuser-Busch brand has focused on that imbiber, through everything from free flights to anywhere to a meaningful start with stars. “One of the best examples of this was the Dorm From Home campaign, where we put a fully functional mobile dorm unit in the path of one of our deserving fans,” notes Blake. Earlier this year, Natty Light took away $ 1 million to help pay off student loan debt – 40 people received a total of $ 25,000 each.

“Without the ability to gather physically in large groups,” Blake continues, “our fans felt like they were taking away some of their key opportunities for fond memories. to do. We needed to find ways to reach them away from campuses, bars and concerts, and to keep the college way of life alive, even if they could not be physically present. ”

“It’s about putting people first. By understanding what is important in my life, we can create fun, engaging and rewarding programs. One of the top priorities for our fans is to make great memories, so many of our campaigns are designed to help them do just that. Beyond that, we also focus on helping with the transition from graduation to adulthood, so we try to identify issues such as college debt and come up with solutions that help We can continue to deal with them. ”